Two weeks ago we had our first real snow. Of course, Queen decided that was the perfect time to have her calf, as well as break into a different pasture.

She was super late calving, so when I found her laying down off by herself with snow on its way, I was not happy. How am I going to manage a downed cow all on my own? When she stood up with blood on her tail, I made her start walking and frantically started searching for a calf. All the while telling myself, “she’s up, that’s the important thing. I can deal with a calf or a miscarriage, not a downed cow”.

As I walked her into a stand of cedars, it started to flurry. She stood there, back hunched, but nothing coming out as I backed into the branches for extra cover. I turned to see the peanut gallery lined up watching. Every other cow, steer, calf, and bull was in an almost perfect line, peeking out of the trees, watching her. Lilly was in a tizzy, mooing softly, pacing, obviously worried. I trust these guys to know what’s good or bad more than myself, so seeing both of these things did not set my mind at ease.

Queen would look back at me from time to time and I decided to give her some space and let whatever was going to happen, happen. I knew what was going on, I was close, and I had my herd watching and hopefully alerting me to any new developments. With one ear turned to her, I went to check the broken fence and make repairs.

As I cursed Fred for making a permanent power jump right where I needed to fix, I started the walk all the way back to the barn to cut the power and something in the middle of the next pasture caught my eye.

I turned just in time to see a little calf butt plop down in a tuft of grass. YES! Alive and, once I get it over to Queen, well. As always, new calves are too tired to run away, so I gave it a quick check and as I grabbed the back leg to reveal the gender, I said a quick, “please be a girl, please be a girl!” Queen has always given us boys, and having a girl from her and Redd would be a genetic jackpot.

A boy. Now is the perfect time to do our crimping castration. He’s easy to handle and still a bit out of it from being born. But I don’t have the implement, nor the ability to hold him by myself, so that would have to wait.

By now, the snow is coming down pretty hard and this boy isn’t moving. I am screaming at Queen to call him. Taunting her that I am touching her baby and what’s she going to do about it. Nothing. I pick him up by the backside so she can see me handling him and still, nothing. All I want is one good moo calling him to her and my job will be so much easier. But for some reason, she is just fine with me breaking my back to get him to stand, both of us getting covered in snow.

By this time I m screaming “Baby boy, you HAVE to GET UP!!!! You HAVE to get OUT OF THE SNOW!!!!” But he won’t listen. I decide dragging him by his back legs is better than leaving him in the snow with zero cover. He decides otherwise. Ok, the front legs. That gets me about 2 feet closer to Queen, and still no moo from her. One more try with the front and he pops up.

I’ve found the only way to get a newborn calf to move is walk directly behind it, gently nudging on each side of the rump and guiding it with my hands. And we we’re walking!

I get him to duck under the fence as Queen lets out a low moo and he walks around to nurse. With my smell all over him, Queen starts to methodically lick every place I touched, side eyeing me as she decontaminates him. Lilly comes over to try to lick him and Queen lets her know she needs no help. I give him a few minutes to eat and then usher them back into the trees so she can find a spot to bed him down.

Lilly doesn’t mind the snow.

Three days later, we get about 4-5 inches of snow. As much as I want to go find that little boy, I know it’s a waste of time. When a cow beds down her calf, you can’t find it. Somehow they can hide them in a tuff of grass and you will walk right past them. It’s some kind of crazy momma cow magic.

Friday, I walk down and see Queen. She is up, bag is full, but not too full, and she looks well. I don’t see baby boy. Queen is calm, and so is Lilly, so I am sure where ever the calf is, he’s fine.

A week after his birth is the first time I see him. He’s playing with BJ, nursing, roaming among the herd, bright eyed and active. Keeping our herd on pasture year round definitely makes for hearty stock!

So what do you name a little boy who survived a snow storm on his birthday and an even worse one a few days later? You name him after the god of snow, Boreas. Bo for short. We haven’t decided on castration or not. And the thought of wrestling him in the cold and mud is not that appealing right now. I’m getting enough of that with the pigs. So if he stays a bull, his official name will be Boreas Rey de la Nieve, Boreas King of the Snow!

Being in the pasture with the herd is one of my favorite places. Watching their interactions, how nurturing the mommas are with their calves, how curious and strong willed the calves are, and how gentle the boys are with the calves turns all the hard work into calmness and awe. When a three year old steer walks up to a newborn calf and gives it a gentle lick, it’s hard to keep your heart from melting.

It’s hard to believe in 2013 we started our herd with a cow/calf pair and now we are up to 5 cows, 4 heifers, 5 steer, and of course, our handsome bull, Redd.

In 2016, we were able to buy two cows with steers and one bred cow from where we bought Redd. The owner needed to downsize, and since we had already fell in love with his herd, we knew there was at least one cow we wanted–Queen Anne. Queen was his lead cow and while getting up in age (9), she is an excellent example of the AMD physical qualities and produces excellent calves. As we looked over everyone else, Emma was chosen because she had a steer calf, and Tish was chosen because she was just so beautiful. Tish was bred, so we figured 2 steers to butcher and one on the way would work for us.

After this round of calves, we are doing artificial insemination on our 5 cows to get some new genes in the herd. Our 2 heifers are two years old, and technically ready to breed, but we have decided to wait one more year to let them grow a bit more. Being a slower growing heritage breed, we decided waiting to 3 years to breed will be better for the heifer and calf.

Since our herd has grown, we have noticed they are taking better care of the pastures. With the “competition” for food, they eat the older grass and forbs better and more evenly. AMDs are known for being great at eating scrub and brush and we are definitely seeing that in practice. One of the things that helped us decided on this breed is the fact they will eat poor forage and still produce an excellent quality beef and milk.

We hope you enjoy the photos of the herd and will be adding more once our last two calves are born.

In the spring of 2013 we bought our first cow/calf pair of Milking Devons. We drove all the way past Jefferson City, MO to pick them up. We were both so excited..Fred would get milk and I would get my oxen. Once we were back on the farm, I was in charge of naming them. When I looked at the cow, all I saw was a momma. So that stuck. The calf was a bit different. I had thought of a few names, but Fred didn’t like them. So one day, watching her in the sunlight, she was such a beautiful orange color, I thought of Clementine, or Clem for short. And that stuck, much to Fred’s chagrin (he said it sounded too much like phlegm).

Fred’s first week working with Momma.

Fred has been really good at working with them. Momma wouldn’t come near us at first. After 2 weeks of feeding her alfalfa pellets, Fred was standing next to her, rubbing her back. He fixed a piece of cloth to a bamboo stick and would move it around her to get her used to things in her space. He made a small gated area and got her to go in there to eat her feed and handled her. Then he put a stanchion on the end and worked with her to put her head through that. After that, the halter went on. Within a couple of weeks, Fred was holding her by the halter without much of a fuss. My job was get the barn stalls ready for milking. So once I removed all the junk, leveled out the floor and filled it in with mulch, Fred started milking. We tied Momma to the ledge of the hay manger and voila’…milk! She has had only one instance of kicking and we hope it stays that way. We have done two rounds of artificial insemination on her, and hopefully this last one took and we will have a calf this fall/winter.

Clem was just as leery of us as Momma, maybe more. But once we got them in the barn area for the winter and a halter on her, she was much better. Fred has been working with her on “whoa” (stop) and “giddup” (go) and is able to manage her very well. When Fred milks Momma, I go in the corral with Clem and rub all over her to get her used to being handled.

Greene Acres’ Reddington.

This spring, we picked up our yearling bull, Redd, from outside of Springfield, MO. I suggested names, but Fred took my mother’s suggestion to name him Redd. Redd is a whole different story from the girls. When we unloaded him, he walked right past Fred without as much as a skip in his step. In the corral, you can stand at arm’s length with no problem. When he eats his alfalfa treats you can rub his neck. Now, you don’t want a friendly bull, especially one with horns. That cute eagerness for a scratch on the head turns into being pushed around by a half ton or more animal. So the object is to have a bull that will respect us and follow some commands to make moving him easier. Soon he will have a halter and begin training.

Our goal right now is to continue to milk Momma and hopefully have a calf in the late fall/beginning of winter. Once the new calf is born, we will bottle feed with Momma’s milk to start oxen training right away. In the summer of 2015, Clem and Redd will both be ready for breeding and the herd will start to grow.

Finally…MILK!

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